“You think leaving it to God is the answer?” asked CNN’s Chris Cuomo in a segment on the latest mass shooting in the US, suggesting that something would be done for gun control if children of influential people were to be shot.

One day after former Marine Ian David Long unloaded on a packed bar in Thousand Oaks, California, Cuomo launched into a passionate gun-control diatribe, lambasting pro-gun politicians and lobbyists like the National Rifle Association for failing to take real steps towards stopping “the damn shooting.”

Cuomo then savaged the familiar line trotted out after every incident of mass gun violence in the US: “I would like to offer my thoughts and prayers.”

Thoughts and prayers, Cuomo argued, “mock those who lost loved ones, because if you gave it any thought, you would never walk away from any of these without figuring out a better way to deal with them.”

“Prayer?” he continued, “You think leaving it to God is the answer?

“How about a stadium full of children of the most influential people in our society, all holding puppies. What if they were all shot and killed. Would we act?

Ironically, mocking calls for ‘thoughts and prayers’ is a common tactic on the right too, just not the Christian right. Limp-wristed ‘thoughts and prayers’ responses to Islamic terrorist attacks are often ridiculed by the right, who suggest stricter immigration and anti-terror laws in their place.

Thoughts and prayers for the victims in London today. I wonder when the Muslim Mayor of London will wake up to the threat of Radical Islam? https://t.co/t24tJ5J36P

Whatever his opinions on prayer, God, or shooting puppies, Cuomo’s point is a solid one. ‘Thoughts and prayers’ are a staple of American public discourse every time tragedy strikes. With over 300 mass shootings – defined as a shooting in which more than three people are killed or injured, from gunshots or while escaping – this year so far, many feel frustrated upon hearing the same platitudes and partisan bickering every time, while nothing changes.